A flesh-eating bacteria victim has got a new pair of bionic hands worth $120,000 each for free of charge as she agrees to act as a spokesperson for Touch Bionics, developer of the bionic hands , according to CNN.
Aimee Copeland, a 25-year old Georgia graduate student, was infected with a rare flesh-eating disease, Necrotizing fasciitis, caused by Aeromonas hydrophila bacteria. Copeland contracted the bacteria in an accident while zip-lining across the Little Tallapoosa River in Georgia, May 1, 2012. The infection started after she cut her leg and got 20 stitches for it.
Three days later she was rushed to the hospital and diagnosed with necrotizing fasciitis. The doctors were forced to amputate her hands, left leg and right foot due to the fast spreading bacteria, which would have proved fatal otherwise.
Necrotizing fasciitis caused by Aeromonas hydrophila bacteria is a very rare occurrence affecting about 750 people a year. The infection appears in the deeper layers of skin and subcutaneous tissues.
Copeland demonstrated her newly fitted bionic hands to the media, which now help her in performing daily tasks like picking up small objects by herself.
"It just mimics so well a natural hand that it really just reminds me of before the accident, how I would have done things," she said, according to CNN News report. "I never thought I would actually be able to hold a knife and cut something. That's just incredible."
She further expressed her eagerness at being able to start cooking vegetarian meals for herself and was enthused about being able to clean her own home. "I'm really looking forward to cooking with these and to cleaning my house," she told on the show "Today". "I'm sort of OCD, so it seems like a weird thing to want to do, but I really want to clean."
Copeland is in the process of learning how to control her hands by moving the right muscles for flexing and contraction. But according to Robert Kistenberg, co-director and prosthetics coordinator at Georgia Institute of Technology, Copeland is a fast-learner as the things she was able to learn in three days generally takes 6 months or a year for others.
"She's very smart and very adept," Kistenberg added. "I wouldn't be surprised if in the next month or two she'll be able to use them without thinking about it."
Copeland also hopes to get a prosthetic leg later this year and is looking forward to walking again.
The bionic hands called "i-limb ultra revolution" developed by Touch Bionics, an Ohio-based technology company, can cost up to $120,000 each. It can be programmed using an iPad application to remotely adjust hand positions.
